Unusual Cancellations on Ukraine Trident stamps 1918

Click on Image to Magnify

The Ukrainian National Republic declared in 1918 claimed more territory than it ever controlled. As soon as German military protection was removed, the territory it did control contracted rapidly. 

Very occasionally, you see General Issue or trident overprinted stamps used in 1918 outside "core" Ukrainian guberniyas, most often Minsk and occasionally Kursk. The stamp shown above is the first I have noticed with a Voronezh guberniya cancel.

The small town of Valuyki is now in Russia, 15 km outside the modern Ukraine - Russia border, so it's possible that it was briefly under UNR control in 1918. The cancellation is dated 21 10 1918, so shortly before the German collapse. It could be CTO but I rather doubt it - the cancel is characteristic of use on a Money Transfer or Parcel Card. The stamp itself with Kharkiv III overprint is scarce but not rare (Bulat # 758, $65). The cancellation, of course, makes it much more interesting. The stamp is signed both UPV and Philip Schmidt in whose collection I found it. I will send it to Filateliapalvelu in Finland for auction.

Added 12 August 2016: Roman Procyk has kindly contributed the following scans  showing Kharkiv trident use on Telegraphic Money Orders at at Valuyki. They provide additional evidence of the little-known use of Trident stamps in Voronezh guberniya. Note the dates, late in the period of German Occupation of Ukraine, and the destination - a bank in Kyiv (written in Russian).

Click on Images to Magnify

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine 1918 - 20: Forged Cancellations of Podilia

By 1917, the Imperial Russian postal service operated a couple of hundred post offices in the Guberniya of Podolia. A few were in the main towns - Kamenets, Vinnitsa, Zhmerinka, Proskurov - but most were in small towns. If you Google those small towns, most of them show up on Genealogy and Holocaust sites as Jewish shtetls.

Between 1918 and 1920, stamps in the post offices changed as the Ukrainian National Republic introduced the General Issue of 1918 and later in the year the Trident overprinted stamps. But the old Imperial cancellers remained in use. I know of only one distinctive new canceller - and that was introduced by the Polish during their occupation of Kamenets Podolsk in 1920. They produced a canceller with Polish spelling (KAMIENIEC) - this is illustrated in the Fischer Catalog Tom II and on this Blog - click on the Label at the end of this Post to link to the relevant page.

There is also a Kamenets canceller with Ukrainian spelling (KAMYANETS) but this is a Forgery. Though similar in style to Imperial Russian cancellers, it appears to have a fixed date 19. 7 19. It is only found on cancelled to order stamps, some genuine and some forged or doubtful. The ink used for all cancellations is different to the inks generally used in Podilia during 1918 - 20. Here are some examples of the cancellation. At the top it is applied to a genuine 20 Hr General Issue, a genuine type 3 Kharkiv Trident and a genuine type 1a Podilia Trident. Then at the bottom are two examples of Podilia 1a in violet or violet-black ink. These are usually regarded as Reprints or Forgeries though the discussion in the Trident literature is pretty perfunctory.

Click on Image to Magnify

Other forged cancellations exist but are rarely seen. I think this is simply because there is so much used Podilia material freely available. Over the years I have assembled only the small group of doubtful items shown here and on which I comment below:

Click on Image to Magnify

Top left: Genuine Podilia 1a on 50 kopeck with what I take to be a forged cancel of Zhmerinka Voksal. The genuine cancel is oval in the usual Imperial style and rarely seen at this time, though I have one example on a General Issue stamp. 

Top centre: Genuine Kyiv III with what I think is a forged GORODOK POD. cancel. I don't like the general appearance, the ink, the circles instead of stars and the date 10 7 18, well before any Trident overprints appeared - the earliest known dates are at the  end of August.

Top right: Signed Dr Seichter BUT the cancel is in a style with very large letters and numbers quite unlike any known Podilia cancel

Bottom row: Genuine Kyiv II and Podilia overprints, mint with full gum,  cancelled with what I take to be a forged Ukrainian Field Post cancellation. The complete text of the cancel can be seen by looking at both pairs of stamps. The date 18 XII 19 on both items allows a remote possibility that this is a genuine cancel.

____

One other thing: I have had some kind of collection of Podilia postal history for 1917 - 1921 for over twenty years. But - apart from the stamps - it does not feel very Ukrainian. The cancellations are in Russian and it may be that the employees of the post offices were mostly Russians or at least fluent Russian speakers. All their paperwork was in Russian (except at Yampol where the postmaster printed his own Ukrainised Money Transfer forms). Letters to the Courts are addressed in Russian. I suspect that most of the people who used the post offices identified themselves as Russian or Jewish - and from Googling, it would seem that Jews tended to use Russian rather than Ukrainian when they were not using Yiddish or Hebrew. Am I wrong about this?

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

A Puzzling Trident from Odessa

Click on Image to Magnify

The Type 1 Trident overprint of Odessa was printed from a lithographic plate of 10 x 10, designed for Imperial kopeck value stamps.

It is therefore rather strange that John Bulat lists Type 1 on two rouble values - the 10 x 10 plate would simply not work applied to rouble value sheets. But Bulat has the following:

1077 1 rub imperforate valued at - - mint and $125 used

1078  3.50 rub imperforate valued at - - mint and - - used

I can only illustrate one example of these stamps; I did not make a note of where I got it from, but it is probably from the Schmidt collection. There are no markings or signatures on the back of the stamp but nearly everything looks plausible:

- the stamp appears to have been postally used on a formular card and has a triangular punch hole and a trace of blue crayon

- the ODESSA 10 10 18 cancel looks good - the only doubtful element is the difference in style between the first "10" (which looks slightly doubled ) and the second "10" but this may be of no significance

- the Trident looks good too. It's in the right kind of ink and it's under the cancellation.

BUT if this is Odessa Type 1 then really only two possibilities exist:

- there was a second Odessa 1 plate adapted to fit ruble value sheets

- there was some kind of handstamp made based on Odessa 1 and applied by hand to ruble value stamps (just like Odessa 4 - 6 handstamps)

Can anyone show more examples of this stamp or find references in the philatelic literature? Do any multiples exist?

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Priceless Stamps of Ukraine

Click on Image to Magnify

Sometime in the 1990s - I forget when - I bought a Lot in an auction held by the nice Hamburg firm of Schwanke und Sohn. The Lot comprised about 20 000 or 30 000 Trident overprinted stamps, nearly all in complete sheets. The sheets were neatly folded but just once in the middle and they had been very carefully stored. Some sheets had pencilled remarks in the margins, always accurate. Most of them were common stamps and all were genuine. Over the years I have sold most of these stamps - and probably given away some of them in desperate moments.

Today I came across a few sheets which remain. Here is one sheet. These are 15 kopeck imperforate stamps overprinted with Kyiv type 2 using a single handstamp type 2a. This is # 285 in the Bulat catalogue where it is priced at  - -  mint and $55 used.

I think there was a second identical sheet or part sheet which I cut up into strips of 5 to supply clients with Bulat - based (or Seichter - based) Wants Lists. There has never been any temptation to cut up this sheet. There does not seem to be a queue of people looking for Bulat # 285.

Material like this is a bit of a headache, really. The sheet is not attractive. There are no Zeppelins. The obscure variety it illustrates is of interest to almost no one. And the stamp is priceless. 

You might say that this is ideal auction material - in the right auction, this sheet will find its price. Well, if I offer it for 10 euro then I guess it would sell for more than that. If I offer it for 100 euro, I am not sure it would sell. And yet the fact of Bulat's  - -  suggests that this is a scare or rare stamp. (He might be wrong of course. But maybe I picked up most of the global supply of this stamp in that Schwanke auction ...)

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine Trident Overprints on Imperial rouble values - Kyiv Type 2

Click on Image to Magnify

Kyiv type 2 Trident overprints are the most common of all Tridents; copies can be found in the most basic collections. Partly because of this and partly because there are so many collectible varieties (Bulat 229 - 581), they get neglected. I certainly neglect my stock of them.

But suppose you concentrated just on overprints on rouble value stamps?

First of all, you would have to improve on Bulat's listing of the basic stamps which is very poor. You need to go to a good catalogue (Michel and Standard, for example) and establish the full range of stamps potentially available for overprinting. They differ in perforation, direction of varnish / chalk (Kreide) lines, shades, printing varieties, and so on.

That need not be a main focus of research. The large format of the rouble value stamps makes them a good basis for a postmark collection and the basic stamp used need not interest a postmark collector.

Interestingly, though philatelically-inspired varieties on kopeck values are quite common, philatelic varieties on the rouble values are not common - maybe just because the basic stamps were so expensive. Even inverted overprints are rare - which is extraordinary when you think that every single overprint comes from  single handstamps and that millions were overprinted, probably by a small army of post office clerks. 

What you do find is variation in the shades of ink used in the overprinting process. The majority of stamps are overprinted in an obvious violet, but some are in an obvious blue. Then these two colours are sometimes found in a mixed state, which you would expect if a handstamp is switched from one ink pad to another. In addition, you find violets which are more or less grey. But grey on its own or black are rare or non-existent.

Red (or violet mixed with red, or red mixed with violet) does exist on the 1 rouble imperforate overprinted with Kyiv type 2ee (Bulat 404a). I think this is probably a philatelically-inspired variety.

At the top of this Blog, you can see my stock of Kyiv 2f on the 3 rouble 50 kopeck imperforate for which Bulat lists violet, gray violet and violet blue overprints (Bulat 439, 439b, 439d). These colour variants may also have a philatelic character - note, for example, that my current stock does not show any used copies. Note also that though Bulat lists violet and then violet-gray, he does not list blue, only violet blue. But blue could exist ...

Finally, of course, Kyiv 2 Trident overprints on rouble values have to be classified as coming from Handstamp Types a, b or bb, c, d, e? or ee, f, g or gg, a listing which serious work may show needs a bit of revision. 

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Kyiv 2 Single Handstamps and the Bulat Catalogue

Why did I have to think of this today? The sun is shining and I should have gone for a walk, but instead ...

In his Ukraine catalogue, which we all use, John Bulat has a long list of stamps overprinted with single handstamps of  Kyiv 2 type. The list starts at # 257 and ends at # 581. That's a lot of stamps. Pity that no one collects them.

In notes in the text, Bulat says that on kopeck values sub-types bb, ee, f, g, gg are stand-alone single handstamps in the sense that we only need a single stamp to classify it as having come from a single handstamp. In other words, bb,ee,f,g, gg are never to be found in the standard a- b - c - d - e five-cliche handstamp.

But sub-types a, b, c, d can only be identified as from single handstamps if they occur in pairs or in right or left marginal positions (b,c,d) or in pairs or right marginal position (a).

Got it? Fine? Now I am going to spoil your day ...

 Consider the two strips of five below. Click on the Image to magnify if you think it will help:

At the top, we have single handstamp a on 4 kopeck perforate, Bulat # 262, catalogued $8

Underneath, we have single handstamp gg on 15kopeck imperforate, Bulat 536, catalogued $12.

What are his catalogue values values of? 

In the case of the 4 kopeck strip, you could extract three collectible units: two pairs and the fifth (right marginal) stamp.  

In the case of the 15 kopeck strip, you could extract five collectible units since these stamps are identifiable as coming from a single handstamp whatever - gg does not occur in any 5 - cliche handstamp

So what are Bulat's catalogue values values of? Here are some possibilities:

1. Bulat values are values for a strip of 5, whatever

2. Bulat values are values for whatever is the minimum unit from which you can identify a single handstamp having been used, so either a pair or - in some cases -  a single stamp

3. Bulat values are values for individual stamps but some stamps are only identifiable if they come in pairs

For the 4 kopeck strip that creates a range of possible Bulat values for collectible units in my strip ranging from $8 to $40 unless you think the two possible pairs are only worth the same as the one marginal stamp, in which case the top value drops to $24

For the 15 kopeck that creates a range for collectible units (all five stamps are identifiable singly) going from $12 to $60

Remember that in these same listings Bulat also gives values for rouble values which are always overprinted with single handstamps and always collectable as singles. So he must be valuing single stamps when he is valuing rouble stamps ...

I told you I was going to spoil your day .... Coming tomorrow: How many angels can dance on a pin head.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Tridents of Homel (Gomel, Mogilev)

Click on Image to Magnify

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Germany and Bolshevik Russia in March 1918, permitted German and Austrian troops to enter independent Ukraine at the invitation of the Ukrainian government. Without their presence, Ukraine would have quickly fallen to the Bolsheviks - and after the Germans and Austrians left at the end of 1918, it did.

The town of Homel - Gomel in Russian - in Mogilev guberniya was a major military centre for the German Occupation.  Not having any fighting to do, the soldiers turned their attention to philately - as soldiers did in those days. It was a way of passing the time and making money. Nowadays, they would probably do other drugs.

To this day you can easily find obviously philatelic cards and covers fabricated in Homel and exported back to Germany in large quantities. The crowning achievement was to instigate the production of a local Trident, Homel Type 1, which has always been in the catalogues (see Bulat 2356 - 2363 for the definitive listing). I show some examples in the top row of the two most common values, the 15 kop and 20 kop, though even these are not so easy to find and Bulat's valuations are low. Note the light touch overprints which I believe are characteristic as is the GOMEL cancel, though this comes in several types. Dr Seichter has signed the 15 kop on piece and mint block of 4  

More puzzling are the bogus types numbered 3, 4 and 5 by Dr Ceresa and known as the "Homel - Townsend" types. Type 3 is illustrated in Row 2, type 4 in Row 4 and Type 5 in the bottom row. These stamps first turned up in England and were catalogued as early as 1920 which makes them more interesting than if they had turned up in 1990.  Today, they are not easy to find though perhaps most of those that exist are still in England. They were supposedly brought to England by a Captain Townsend who claimed to have bought them at post offices in the Homel area. 

No one seems to have pointed out that this is a strange story. Until the end of 1918 the Homel district was occupied by German troops and an English officer could not have been wandering around the post offices. After the Armistice of 11 11 1918, the Germans withdrew and fighting between Ukrainian National Republic forces and Bolshevik forces shortly began. Again, no place there for a British officer ( I don't think the British ever had a Military Mission to the Ukrainian National Republic - that would be the only way for a Captain Townsend to be free to go around collecting stamps at the end of 1918). 

Anyway ... everyone now agrees that the Homel types 3, 4 and 5 were private productions made no later than 1920 and quite possibly made in Ukraine - but where and by whom we do not really know. Captain Townsend is no longer alive to tell us.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: More tridents of Podillia / Podolia

Click on Image to Magnify

In response to a Reader's Comment on my recent Podillia Blog, I now show a few more of the sub-types:

Row 1:  3a on 15 kop perf     &     1b on 3 kop imperf

Row 2: 8d on 1 kop imperf     &    5a on 3 kop imperf

Row 3: 14 on 20kop perf       &    10a on 7 kop perf    &    9aa on 3 kop imperf

Row 4: 16d on 15 kop perf    &    16aa on 3 kop imperf

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Collecting Tridents of Podillia / Podolia

Click on Images to magnify them

There do exist collectors who are working their way through John Bulat's Podillia Trident listing, trying to get one of every separately listed variety. The listing starts at # 1370 and ends at #2195 (plus an Appendix which runs from #2196 to 2283, plus a, b and c varieties here and there ...). So it's a very big project - and I don't know anyone who has completed it. The late Ron Zelonka once sent me his Podillia Wants List. It was actually quite long. Maybe I found three or four stamps for him.

There is an alternative which is more realistic - and cheaper. For each of the 57 Trident types (literally 57 in Bulat's listing), I would try to find one very good example - if possible in a multiple - and maybe extend from there. But the paradigm example would serve as  the reference point from which to assess other stamps: to answer the question, Is this really an example of Type .... 

Both mint and used stamps can be used. Have a look above. The block of 25 mint stamps shows Trident Type 14b (Bulat # 2075). The clerk (probably left-handed)  worked from right to left across four rows and from left to right in the middle row. In every case he re-inked the handstamp every fifth strike. This means that the block shows us quite clearly the sorts of difference you get between well-inked and lightly inked examples of this Trident. In this particular case, unusually for a wooden handstamp, there is not a lot of variation which is why 14b is an Easy trident to collect.

The block of 12 used stamps shows Trident Type 8a (Bulat # 1603). This is also a wooden handstamp and, again, it is quite distinctive. In the block above there is a particularly clear strike in position 5 of the block - you could trace this one quite clearly. It helps that this block is very lightly cancelled.

In both these cases, you could put the blocks in the centre of an album page and show other denominations with the same Trident around them - and always using the block at the centre of the page to check the identification of what will often be single stamps.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Katerynoslav Type I Tridents: Varieties

Above are some forged Trident overprints. All have the large red Soviet guarantee on the reverse which Alexander Epstein identifies as a forgery dating from the 1950s or 1960s. On the example I have chosen to turn over, both the Trident showing through and the forged guarantee mark appear to have been struck from the same ink pad.

The forgeries are not very impressive but they all seem to be attempts at Katerynoslav I with an emphasis on colour varieties. Now, it's true that colour varieties on Katerynoslav I Tridents are known and listed. Bulat offers the following:

1 kopeck perforated with violet overprint $50 mint unpriced used

3 kopeck perforated with violet overprint, - - mint and - - used

5 kopeck perforated with violet overprint, unpriced mint [maybe a typo for - - ]  - - used

10 kopeck with red overprint $50 mint $100 used

1 kopeck imperforate with violet overprint $35 mint - - used

Of these, those on the 1 kopeck can be found mint (though I have none in stock at present: see Lot 88 in the Corinphila sale of Ron Zelonka's collection for an illustration) and so can those on the 10 kopeck, also mint. On the latter, the ink is very distinctive:

The mint copy on the right is signed Dr Seichter - I have chosen this copy with an ink smudge to emphasise the colour of this overprint.In the Ron Zelonka collection there were significant quantities of this stamp ex-Seichter including two blocks of 25 sold as a single Lot (Lot 90 - illustrated in the catalogue). However, the damaged used stamp on the left is rare. It is from the Philipp Schmidt collection and was seen and OKd by Dr Seichter.

The 3 and 5 kopeck are much more problematic. I am holding the two stamps below but would hesitate to sell them. They are both plausible as Katerinoslav I Tridents but completely different in style to the 1 kopeck and 10 kopeck overprints:

On the 5 kopeck I cannot offer an interpretation of the cancellation but on the 3 kopeck it is clearly EKATERINOSLAV in both cases.

INFORMATION  FROM ALEXANDER EPSTEIN ADDED 15 November 2012:

Alexander Epstein (Tallinn) provides the very useful images above. They show violet Katerynoslav I Tridents on used stamps - and both stamps have cancellations in violet from LYUBIMOVSKI POST. This suggests that a Trident handstamp was sent to Lyubimov where the violet overprints were then made. Note the fine, sharp style of the overprint which can also be seen on this block from the Zelonka collection. These overprints are not at all like the violet ones I illustrated above. It does look from this block as if this was a handstamp with five positions - see how position 5 is dropped a little in each row:

To make matters more complicated, Bulat lists "Special Katerynoslav Types" which are basically single handstamps in the style of Katerynoslav I (Bulat 844 - 854). They are all applied in black and as with Kyiv II single handstamps you should be looking for multiples to confirm that a single handstamp is being used. Unfortunately, these Special Types appear to be rare (only two are priced by Bulat, at $150 and $250)  I have put aside the two stamps below as possible examples of Bulat  852 but I don't think they can both be examples. The left hand stamp is signed UPNSZelonka (don't know why he signed it) and the right hand stamp has a small Soviet guarantee mark in violet - which would be unusual for any kind of ordinary Trident, so I think there is something going on here - I am just not sure what. These could be perfectly normal Katerynoslav I Tridents:

Apologies for the complicated Blog.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

A Curious Fact about Ukraine Tridents

Collectors, dealers and speculators who made it up as they went along - all these people got involved with Ukraine Trident production and some of them tried to get limited edition specialities created to make a fast buck. In some districts they were successful - Odesa for instance - and in other districts they seem not to have had much influence. In some cases we can link an individual name to a particular "Philatelic" Trident variety - Svenson, Trachtenberg and so on.

But it's a curious fact that with  few exceptions (mostly in Kyiv), no one fools around with ink colours. Maybe post office officials said No to that - it would confuse matters too much for clerks handling mail. In Odesa, for example, whether they are upside down, sideways or whatever, the handstamped tridents are always black. Exceptions are rare and don't look like deliberate creations.

For example, Bulat lists just two cases of Trident overrprints in violet-black (Bulat 1179a at $30 and 1304c at $18). 

The only examples I have ever seen do not look at all like deliberate colour varieties: in the two blocks of four above which have violet in the ink you really have to look for it (click on image to get a full screen view). To me, it looks like there was a bit of violet in the ink pad and that's about all. In contrast, as far as the left hand block is concerned (with Odesa Vb, Bulat 1253 - a stamp on which there are quite a lot of odd varieties listed) what you first notice is that the trident has been applied at an angle - to my mind, probably deliberately at someone's request. But the ink variety is almost unnoticeable.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Tridents of Zhytomyr

The Type I Tridents of Zhytomyr are not  a local issue but the regular issue of a Postal District, Volhynia  - in Imperial Russian times, Volinsk Guberniya. It is irrelevant that they were quite quickly replaced with overprints supplied from Kyiv and overprinted with Kyiv Tridents.

As mint stamps, they are a nightmare - the ink is a distinctive bright violet but is so fluid that often the Trident impression is no more than a smudge or a blob. Mapping an individual Zhytomyr Trident  to its position in one of the three multiple cliches apparently used (see Bulat page 18) is generally impossible. It is really only the ink that tells you that what you have is a Zhytomyr Trident (Type I).

As a District issue, it should have been distributed to post offices outside Zhytomyr and in fact it was. Only the 1 rouble imperforate stamp is likely to be found in used condition (Bulat 210, $20 which is probably too low). Above I illustrate use of the Trident stamps at three offices:

In the top row, a strip of three used at LUGINI VOK [ = Volinsk] 1 10 18. This strip is signed Dr Seichter. Luginy is a small town north of Zhytomyr and closer to Ovruch.

Bottom left, ZDOLBUNOVO VOL 12 9 18. Zdolbuniv also issued its own Local Trident, most commonly found on the 1 rouble imperforate but this is clearly not that type. This stamp is signed UPV and Schmidt. The town itself is west of Zhytomyr just south of Rivne.

Bottom right, LUTSK 8 11 18.This stamp is signed UPV and Schmidt. The town is in the far west of Volhynia, geographically closer to Lviv than Zhytomyr.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Poltava Tridents - Bulat 943d

The 2 kopeck perforated Imperial Arms with Poltava I Trident in violet is probably the most common Trident of Poltava (Bulat 943). But here is an interesting variation: weak strikes of Poltava Ia applied in violet as a single handstamp have been corrected by subsequent application of Poltava Ib in black (on its own, this would be Bulat 982). The quality of the scans I can now produce allows this to be clearly seen.

Bulat lists this variety, but simply as "corrected overprint" (Bulat 943d).

The "violet" overprint is actually quite blue and this is quite common (sometimes the blue is even blue-green).

This block of 25 is from the Lindenmeyer collection, but there were no doubt similar items in the Zelonka collection

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine: Tridents of Odesa Va, Vb, Vc, Vd

My Odesa Tridents are in a 64 page stockbook. Today I was taking out some stamps for a client. I realised that some of the stamps were in the wrong places - the Type V Tridents were not always correctly classified. So to remind myself what the four different types look like, I made up this card: top row, Va; second row, Vb, third row, Vc, bottom row, Vd. For some reason, I don't have Vb on any one kopeck stamps so I have used the 5 kopeck value instead. All the stamps shown above have good signatures - Bulat, Seichter, UPV and Trachtenberg (which is fine for Odesa)

The type V overprints are usually clearly struck - none of my copies above have unclear overprints - though they vary from deep black to grey. When the base cap does not print clearly, then it can be difficult to decide what type of overprint you are looking at. The same is true, of course, if a cancellation obscures the Trident. For the Vc Trident, horizontal marks or a line of marks often appear to the left, above the top of the wing and extending across to the top of the prong. For a very clear example, see the first example in row three above.But this line does not always appear.

Hope this is useful!

Beware This Mark on Ukraine Tridents!

Back in 2001, one of our most knowledgeable and careful living philatelists, Alexander Epstein, published an article in Ukrainian Philatelist (v 49, n 1) which alerted collectors to a forgery of a Soviet export mark appearing on the back of loose Trident stamps. This mark is illustrated above; a genuine mark of this character exists and was used in the 1920s but only on items of postal history; a significantly smaller mark was used on stamps. The forgery of the large mark appeared in the 1950s and was applied to the back of stamps with forged Trident overprints. Of course, it's possible that it was also applied to stamps with genuine overprints. Dr Seichter has signed the above stamp as genuine, though it isn't.

Dr Seichter seems to have taken the mark to be genuine and thus was puzzled by stamps with what appeared to be doubtful overprints. He concluded that, in general, the stamps were Reprints. He wrote about the problem in a little pamphlet, "Ukraine: Falschung oder unbekannte Typen? Kritische Betrachtungen uber Lokalausgaben 1918/20" (1960).

The mint stamp above which Seichter signed is a 35 kopeck with Trident, supposedly, of Konstantynohrad. [There is a possibility that the Seichter signature is forged but there is nothing about it which alerts my suspicions]

I also illustrate a picture of the the mint stamp alongside the used copy which appears on the one known MTF with Konstantynohrad Trident. Look at the right wing on both stamps and you can see that on the mint forgery, the wing inclines at a greater angle to the vertical spike of the Trident than does the wing on the genuine stamp. The illustration in Bulat's catalog (page 127) correctly captures the angle of inclination of the right wing.

On my next Blog, I will illustrate a batch of stamps with the large export mark and forged tridents which are much easier to see are forgeries than this Konstantynohrad example.

I leave the last word to Alexander Epstein, " one may assert that finding a large size mark on a loose trident stamp is the best "guarantee" that the overprint is forged" (article cited, page 48)

CORRECTION POSTED 9 nov 2011: the mint 35 kopeck mint stamp is not trying to be a Konstantynohrad Trident; it is either a genuine Hanebne Trident or, much more likely, a forgery of it - Bulat does not list Hanebne on the 35 kopeck value

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukrainian National Republic: General Issues and Tridents

I was in Zurich on Thursday viewing Ron Zelonka's collection which is being sold at Corinphila on 6th September. It is probably the biggest accumulation in existence of Ukrainian National Republic material (much of it coming from Dr Seichter's collection) and West Ukrainian material (much of it from John Bulat). There are extensive illustrations on Philasearch and on www.corinphila.ch (though use the online bidding catalogue not the online version of the printed catalogue which has far fewer images)


One thing puzzles me and one thing I have a theory about.

The puzzle is this. The Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) managed to produce a five value set of stamps - the first General Issue - early in 1918. It was produced in large quantities over several printings and never used up - mint remainders even in complete sheets are common. It would have been relatively easy to add a few more values to the set.

So why did the UNR go to all the trouble of Trident overprinting its stocks of Imperial stamps? They could simply have been locked away and, for postal purposes, invalidated. True, it may have seemed good housekeeping (economical) to use them up. True, they provided a wider range of denominations with much - needed higher values. True, many of the stamps were perforated and thus easier to use than the imperforate first General Issue - but Tridents were also applied to imperforate Imperial stamps.

So this is my puzzle: the Trident overprinting, often highly labour intensive, could have been avoided by adding a bottom value (2 Sh) and a few higher values to the General Issue set and simply invalidating Imperial adhesives, thus avoiding the supposed problem of imports of Imperial stamps from Russia being sold as "Postage" at big discounts on face value.

Any answers to my puzzle?

_________________

And here is my theory (which is about another topic).

In many ways, you would expect the "old" Imperial high values - the 3r50 and 7r of 1904 on vertically laid paper - when overprinted with Tridents to have been bought up by philatelists and speculators since the remaining stocks of these stamps was small and probably known to be small.

But when you do see these stamps with Trident overprints they have often been used on Money Transfer Forms, with later punch holes and so on, and they often have early dates of use (1918 rather than 1919). Mint versions are often scarcer than used ones - for example, Kyiv I on the 3r50 grey and black is a very rare stamp mint.

So my theory has to be this: for some reason, perhaps becaue it was thought to be "methodical", these old stamps were overprinted early on and sent out to post offices early on where they got used up before philatelists had properly organised themselves. That's my theory.

This is not the whole story: there are philatelically-inspired overprints on the old 3r50 and 7r. For example, in the Corinphila catalogue you will see a very pretty sheet of the 3r50 overprinted with Kyiv III. This is almost certainly a philatelically-inspired production (and the inspirer: Svenson) and the overprint is a later type.

So there must still have been a few sheets of the 3r50 around even after Kyiv I and Kyiv II overprints had used (most?) of them up. Interestingly, however, Svenson could not lay his hands on a sheet of the old 7r black and yellow which does not exist with Kyiv III and this may be taken as a small bit of confirmation for my theory.

Added February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full colour book form. To find out more follow the link:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Ukraine on Philasearch - Now is a good time to look

Now is a good time to look at Ukraine material on Philasearch.

On the one hand, you can see the Dr Ron Zelonka collection for sale in Corinphila's September auction - a collection which incorporates the Dr Seichter collection and part of the John Bulat collection. If you want to see some serious - and sometimes spectacular - postal history, you will find it here.

On the other hand, you can see the usual philatelic covers and cards for which auction houses try to get ridiculous prices. You can even see a pretty but completely forged Poltava postcard. These are quite common - there was a little industry making them, maybe seventy or eighty years ago - and when I get one I usually pass it on for a few pounds to one of my clients who likes such things.

The high point of these Poltava fakes is that the forgers went to the expense of making a fake cancellation - but in a style which suggests that they wanted it NOT to look like a genuine one.

But on Philasearch you will have to pay a lot of money for an example. It is signed by someone whose name you will know :)

When you have finished with the Zelonka material, do have a look at the little collection of Chernihiv (Chernigov) Tridents on an album page. This is something I put together. You could buy it for about the same price as a fake Poltava postcard. Unlike the postcard, it's genuine.


BTW, remember that "Ukraine" and "West Ukraine" and "Carpatho-Ukraine" are separate search terms on Philasearch - the Zelonka collection comes up for all of them

Ukraine Tridents

I acquired most of my long-term stock of Ukraine tridents over a dozen years ago, when I was able to purchase part of Dr Seichter's collection and then part of Vyrovj's collection. I still have thousands of stamps and postal history items from these collections.

But I need new material to fill gaps, especially scarcer material. Recently, I travelled to Germany to view half a dozen auction lots of Ukraine which turned up in a provincial auction. As is often the case, they were poorly estimated: auctioneers just don't have the knowledge for these issues.

A banal collection of common stamps in large quantitites was estimated at several thousand euros just because the owner had gone to the trouble of getting Expert Certificates for much of the collection. The certificates must have cost considerably more than the stamps were worth. I did not bid on this lot.

In contrast, an old and sparse collection in several albums was estimated at only a few hundred euro but contained at least ten very scarce stamps, in nice condition and with decent signatures. They were all genuine. So I was able to bid twice the estimate on this lot.

Browsing other Lots I found an exhibit collection of Polish issues for Upper Silesia. There was a lot of material with proofs, essays, specimens, multiples and a bit of postal history. I don't know much about this material so I had to guess. I guessed three times the start price and got the Lot for a bit less. Now I will have to study it properly.

The trip was worthwhile because I got all five Lots for which I left bids. One of the frustrations of auction viewing is that you can devote two or three days to a trip and to viewing and still end up empty-handed.

Where do you get all your material?

At stamp shows, this is a FAQ. The short answer is, All over the place. By way of an example, here's a true story:

At a London show some years ago, a dealer came up to my Stand, looked it over, and remarked, "You stock funny stuff. Are you interested in Ukraine? I've got a box in the office that's been there for years. It came from a good source. I could sell it to you if you're interested"

So I made a journey round the M25 and the box was placed in front of me. "Have you got a price?" I asked. The dealer had, in low four figures. Then I opened the box. Thousands of stamps in sheets, mostly common; thousands of stamps in glassines; odd bits of postal history; the auction catalogues which identified where the contents of this box came from. They were the unsolds and a big remainder Lot from the 1987 Swiss sale of the Vyroyyj collection.

Eugene Vyrovyj (1889 - 1945) was one of the great pre-1939 collectors of Ukrainian Tridents, especially the Tridents of Podilia. He won numerous medals for his Exhibit collection. He had links to the exile government of Ukraine, and this was probably the source of some of his material. Though he committed suicide in 1945, the collection did not come on the market until the 1987 Swiss sale, at which date I had not yet started dealing.

Yes, Reader, I bought the box.